After years of keeping his feelings and opinions to himself John Stockton has something to say…

By Darryl Howerton

John Stockton featured in the February 2003 Issue of Hoop Magazine. To subscribe to Hoop Magazine call 1-800-769-8843.

It’s a matter of fact that John Stockton is one of the three best point guards of all-time (only Magic and Cousy compare in this discussion).

It’s a matter of fact that even at 40—an age when every NBA point guard has retired—John Stockton is still one of the best PGs in the game today. Who else but Stock could lead the Utah Jazz against a star-studded Sacramento Kings lineup in a nail-biting ’02 playoff series and come away with a win and three last-minute losses? n And it’s a matter of fact that when it comes to interviews, John Stockton himself is very matter of fact. A man with a lot to say but a man of few words. Very, very few words. That’s why, when he said he was willing to give Hoop a quality interview, we jumped at the chance to sit down with the living legend.

Hoop: How important was playing the Kings hard in last year’s playoffs to rejuvenating yourself and your teammates

for this season? Did you guys talk about it all offseason?

Stockton: I hope there’s a lot of carryover from that series. I think we had played the whole season not thinking we were good enough to compete against that kind of a team, and we found out that we were. Hopefully everybody took that home and felt bad yet good about it, and got excited about this year. We talk about it now, but in the offseason, we go home and have our own workout regimes. I think Andrei [Kirilenko] played for Russia. We don’t stop and call each other a lot and visit, but we have those discussions now that we’re together.

Hoop: Does Andrei need to be a star for this team to be an NBA Championship contender?

Stockton: No, I don’t think anybody needs to be a star for this team. That’s a point I’d like everybody to understand. Five stars don’t get it done, but 12 really good players who are dedicated to each other, they get it done. If we can do that, we can play with anybody.

Stockton is the NBA's All-Time leader is assists and steals.

Hoop: We marveled at your play last year. Even though you played fewer minutes per game, you seemed to be more effective in the minutes you did play. Perhaps your greatest season ever—your shooting percentage was astronomical for a point guard [.517, making Stockton the only point guard in the NBA’s top 20 in field-goal percentage]. Despite your team being less talented on paper than in years past, you got a lot out of it in the playoffs. Do you see yourself getting older and better?

Stockton: [Smiles] I wish that were the case.

Hoop: Even though it’s fewer minutes per game, when you are on the court...

Stockton: Well, there’s a tradeoff. There are things you can’t do now that you could do when you were 23 years old. On the other hand, you’ve learned a lot over the course of those 18-19 years, to make that seem not as evident. You try to take shots you’re capable of. When you’re younger, you might make some shots you’re not normally capable of, because you’re more fluid, maybe stronger, maybe faster. As you get older, you learn not to take those crazy shots. If that makes you more efficient, then in a sense, you can be better without being better. But I’m not claiming that.

Hoop: Some people refuse to admit when they’re sick. They just say, “I can’t get sick,” because that is their mindset. Is that the same thing that you go through when people ask you if you’re injured and how bad it is? Where your mind is stronger than your body? You’ve played in every game in 16 of your 18 seasons.

Stockton: Well, I don’t...boy, there’s a lot of things that fit into that equation, and I’m not sure I can cover them all. I don’t like to give in to injuries. I don’t like to use them as excuses. Everybody has them. I think everybody should have the attitude that you can’t allow yourself to be hurt. You avoid a lot just with that attitude. I don’t know. [That’s] why I don’t wish to discuss it—it’s past. I always prefer to look forward.

Hoop: Who instilled that mindset in you, or was that something that you were born with?

Stockton: Whatever principles I have, obviously you get at home from your parents and you grow up with from your family. Whether that applies to that or if it’s some sort of evolution from that, I don’t know. I always have to point back to your upbringing, and if you stick with that, it’s pretty good for you.”

Hoop: Karl Malone has the same mindset, too. Did you guys ever get united in the beginning and say, “This is what we are as a team,” or was it something you two brought to the table separately?

Stockton has been named to the All-Star Team 10 times.

Stockton: Well, to a degree we probably have some effect on each other that way. I have tremendous faith, for example, that he’s coming to camp in great shape. That helps me in my workouts, knowing that he’s gonna be working extremely hard getting here, and I know that helps him when he’s on the treadmill knowing that I’m on the stairstepper in my home. We do feed off each other quite a bit, but it might not be directly.

Hoop: When you talk about your parents instilling those principles in you, do you do the same with your six children?

Stockton: I try to. They don’t get to miss school with a sniffle, things like that. Essentially, when you join a team, you’re making a commitment to your team. You can’t take that lightly. Yeah, if you’re truly injured, you can sit out a game or practice and not make it worse. But little “owwies” you’ve got to play through for the sake of the squad.

Hoop: In what other ways do you instill that team mentality in your children?

Stockton: You don’t get out of dishes because you’re tired [laughs].

Hoop: How arduous are your summer workouts?

Stockton: Well, you never hear somebody say they gave 90 percent or 80 percent. They always say, “I gave 110 [percent].” So I don’t know if it’s arduous or not. I know that it’s worked for me. I’ve gotten great advice for years from a trainer at Gonzaga, Steve DeLong. We don’t do [everything] right away. He gets me started slowly into it, so that I don’t injure myself getting ready. It’s worked for me. Whether it’s more arduous or less than somebody else’s [routine], I couldn’t tell you.

Hoop: How many hours are you working? What types of weights are you doing?

Stockton: It depends. The weights depend. Everything depends. If, for example, you hurt yourself lifting weights, well, it’s probably not a good idea to lift weights there for a while, and you figure out other ways to get in shape or stay in shape without that particular program. So it’s never been a static, set thing.

Stockton dished out a career high 28 assists against San Antonio on January 15, 1991.

Hoop: Former UCLA coach John Wooden has said that there was only one person in the NBA he’d pay to see, and that was you. Coming from one of the greatest coaches in basketball history, what does that mean to you?

Stockton: He’s been very kind to me over the years. I’ve even expressed to him my gratitude for that. When something nice is said by a man like him, period, it means a lot. But I don’t think you sit there and pass it on back and forth a whole lot. But I’m very thankful.

Hoop: He also told me he was having problems with his knees and that you said, “Come up here. I know a guy. You could stay with me.” He never took you up on that offer, but he told me how touched he was by you doing that.

Stockton: I wish I had more of a connection with him. As I mentioned, he’s said some very kind things. I’ve been fortunate to meet and speak with him on a number of occasions, but I also don’t want to overstate it. The honor is entirely mine. That’s about it.

Hoop: How do you make all these great decisions on the court? Is it by watching film? Is it just by repetition? Is it by play?

Stockton: I make bad decisions, too. I think the big thing, and it came from a long time ago, is that you just don’t give up. I make a lot of mistakes. As you get older, people say, “You don’t make many mistakes” and “You lose a step,” and I’m not sure either is true. All you can do is keep trying, regardless of what happened the play before.

Hoop: I’m not asking you to dog any past teammates—that’s not what I’m fishing for—but a lot of your former teammates saw their play drop off when they left Utah. I interpret that as you making them better players than they were without you. Do you agree?

Stockton: No, I think that’s true with a lot of trades, and it’s not just from us to elsewhere. I think guys excel in one particular system for a reason. It’s not necessarily because of the players they play with. Maybe the system works for them. Maybe they’re more comfortable in that town. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why. When you’ve played for a long period of time in one area and you switch environments, I think that’s a very difficult situation to go to. So, no, if I’ve understood your question, I don’t take any credit. Or even the system. It’s just the nature of the beast sometimes in trades. Sometimes a guy comes in and it ignites his career, and other times it’s a less comfortable situation for him.

Stockton recorded a career high 34 points against the Sacramento Kings on March 17, 1990.

Hoop: We did a study and in the last 19 years, every NBA champion team—with the exception of one—had four main players who had played together for at least three seasons. That’s what the Utah Jazz are all about, and it’s also the best-kept secret to winning.

Stockton: It hasn’t been a revolving door here, and I think that helps. If you can do that, and have great players while you’re doing it, then that’s the secret. But if you don’t have great players and you keep them around forever, then, no, you’re not gonna succeed. You have to have both. You need talent in this League for sure.

Hoop: What’s your fondest memory of a game?

Stockton: The one, going to the [Finals] the first time, when we beat Houston.

Hoop: The ’97 Western Conference Finals where you were jumping up and down with that game-winning shot? [After defeating the Rockets, Utah went on to lose to the Jordan-era Bulls in six.]

Stockton: It was just the culmination of a lot of years of work, being beaten by that team a lot in the playoffs and then finally making it over the hump. That was it.

Hoop: When you were jumping up and down and uncharacteristically letting it w/Hoop, what was going through your mind?

Stockton: A lot, a lot. Or a little. I don’t know what was going on in my mind right then. Definitely my fondest memory though.

Hoop: Fondest memory of Karl?

Stockton recorded a career high nine steals on February 12, 1991 against the Houston Rockets.

Stockton: Personal.

Hoop: Well, I’m sure this next question is personal, too. Fondest memory of family?

Stockton: Definitely personal.

Hoop: Fondest memory of Coach Jerry Sloan?

Stockton: He’s just a great coach to work for. I don’t know if I have any one particularly fond memory. There’ve been so many times when he has come to the rescue just by being who he is. I don’t even think he realizes it.

Hoop: What’s it like to look back at all the young point guards you’ve groomed over the years—NBA teammates and even college players at Gonzaga [Stockton’s alma mater] who work out with you in the summer? What’s it like for you to see them grow as players?

Stockton: I don’t know how you take credit for any of that. I think anybody who plays, and gets attention for playing, people draw from them. I know I drew from Magic Johnson, Rickey Green, Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson, I can’t think of all the names of high-school players, Terry Kelly, Mike Kelly, my own brother, a teammate I had in grade school, Steve Brown. All these guys you draw from, and you don’t even necessarily intentionally do it. You just see them do something that’s successful, and all of a sudden you absorb it. I don’t know that you can take credit for [grooming others] other than it’s helped somebody. But then again it’s not tangible.

Hoop: Can you give up any secrets you learned from those people—from Magic to Steve Brown?

Stockton: No, I don’t know that you can. I’ve thought about this a lot. I don’t know that you can ask a guy why he succeeds, have him answer and have it be accurate. He might know why he thinks he succeeds, but there are a lot of nuances that I don’t think

John Stockton is the oldest active player in the NBA.

you know you’re doing. You just kind of play.

Hoop: You’re the only point guard in NBA history to be 40 and still running a team. [Stockton, who is 6-1, 175 pounds, will turn 41 in March.] Why is that?

Stockton: I’ve been fortunate, for one. You can’t do anything about certain injuries. You just hope to avoid those. You can avoid some of those by staying in shape. You pat yourself on the back, I guess, for that sometimes, because you don’t allow yourself to get out of shape. You try to take care of yourself. You eat right, sleep right. I mentioned the luck. You have to have great care, which we do, both our medical staff and our chiropractor, who lives by me. He’s kind of a healer. His name is Craig Bewer. He’s got a whole system; I don’t think I can play without it. Outside of that, there’s nothing else.

Hoop: On the same note, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan are two other approaching-40 guys who are still on top of their game. Is there a new breed of athlete who can still do it at age 40?

Stockton: I don’t know. I never think in that scope. I’m just trying to get my own dogs out on the floor that given day and let you guys think about it.

Hoop: Speaking of your own dogs, do you ever have doubts in your mind, and if so, how do you get rid of them?

Stockton: Everybody has doubts. At least, I think everybody does. I don’t know if that’s ever changed for me. I’ve always had doubts—given nights, given seasons, given whatever. And I try to forget about them along the way.

Hoop: How do you do that?

Stockton: Just go play. It’s really a game. Just go play. The doubts go away if you play well.

This article originally appeared in the February 2003 issue of Hoop Magazine and is posted with permission.